Jessica Riddell is a full professor of early modern literature at Bishop’s University (Québec, Canada) and the inaugural holder of the Stephen A. Jarislowsky chair of undergraduate teaching excellence. She is also the founder and director of the Hope Circuits Institute, a national platform for collective sense-making and strategic renewal in higher education. A nationally recognized educator, public intellectual, and institutional leader, she is known for her work on reimagining universities as public institutions oriented toward human and ecological flourishing.
An award-winning scholar and best-selling author, Riddell works at the intersection of the humanities, higher education policy, and systems-level institutional change. She writes regularly for The Globe and Mail, University Affairs, and The Conversation, and has received competitive funding from SSHRC, the Jarislowsky Foundation, the McConnell Foundation, CEWIL Canada, and the Business/Higher Education Roundtable.
Her governance and sector leadership include service on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), Senior Women Academic Administrators of Canada (SWAAC), and Bishop’s University. Her leadership has been recognized with the 3M National Teaching Fellowship, the D2L Innovation Award, Forces Avenir’s highest honor for engagement, and election to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists (2025).